Petraeus and Fox: The Transcript

You probably saw something late yesterday about the Bob Woodward scoop at the Wash Post relating to Roger Ailes, and his Fox associate KT McFarland, trying to recruit Gen. David Petraeus to run for president (and news that Rupert Murdoch has also tried).  Now there's a transcript of a tape.   Petraeus says he loves Fox and McFarland says Fox loves him, and so on.  Ailes now denies it was serious move but McFarland went so far as suggest he might quit as Fox chief to run the general's campaign.

 Quotes from Petraeus:

--"I mean, again, off the record, the New York Times was never going to give Bush or Iraq a break, I don’t care what happened."

-- "Grant used to say, yeah, there’s old Sherman. I stood by him while he was crazy, and he stood by me while I was drunk. And every time I see McCain, I think about that. [Laughter] Because they stood by me when I was crazy. And so did Bill O’Reilly, actually. But again, I do sense there is a little — it is. You can sense a skepticism."

--And it closes with this, on one reason the general will not run for president:

Petraeus: My wife would divorce me.
Q: Right.
Petraeus: And I love my wife.
Q: Tell her it’s a beautiful house.
Petraeus: We have a beautiful house. [Laughter] With his-and-her’s bathrooms, believe it or not. I just want to live in it. I’ve never spent a night in it.
Q: I know, that’s the happiest marriage . . .
Petraeus: Keep your mitts off my dressing room.
Q: My husband and I have had a very long and happy relationship because we have completely separate bathrooms.
Petraeus: Isn’t that . . . I mean, that’s the ticket.